LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The pressure is on. The clock is ticking to restore Louisville’s riverfront after historical flooding earlier this month. 

What You Need To Know

  •  Cleanup operations continue at Waterfront Park

  •  Near record flooding inundated the riverfront with debris and mud

  •  City hired a disaster response recovery company to assist in cleanup 

Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, vows the work will be completed in record time. Days after the Ohio River receded, large tanker trucks could be seen power washing Waterfront Park.

Acres of Louisville’s public riverfront were left covered in mud and debris, but noticeable progress has been made in a week’s time. The goal is to restore the park as much as humanly possible before Kentucky Derby 151.

“I bet you can do it. Based on what we’ve seen,” Joyce Petrucci told Spectrum News. Petrucci and her husband Mark Kresge were visiting Louisville this week.

“Pulled out all the resources it looks like,” Kresge added. The couple are avid bike riders and toured the riverfront from The Big Four Bridge down to Waterfront Park.

“From the pictures that we saw before we came to today, it’s amazing how much they’ve cleaned up,” Petrucci said.

All the large debris deposited by flood waters has been removed from Waterfront Park, though much of the lawn is still drying out. Temporary orange fencing will keep visitors off the grass until it has returned to pre-flood conditions.

Even with the recovering riverfront, Kresge was taken by the city. “It’s beautiful. The cityscapes along the river and just the history of all of what’s happened here,” he said.

Louisville has hired a third-party natural disaster response provider, AshBritt, to expedite the cleanup operation. Derby week at Churchill Downs begins in two weeks, so time is of the essence.

“It looks like they’ve got about six or seven water truc”s out blowing the mud off the bike paths and walk trails and the stairs and so forth," Kresge pointed out.

The swift action by the city has this tandem crew wanting to return to see Louisville in peak form.

“It’s lovely,” Petrucci said. “The sun is out today, so we’ll take it in and enjoy it,” her husband added.

The cost of the cleanup isn’t cheap. Greenberg estimates flood cleanup will cost the city approximately $5,000,000.

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